Finally – summer is here! Just around the corner, however, is the implementation of the revised EU Product Liability Directive (EU PLD), effective December 9, 2026. We’ve been closely tracking the new EU PLD’s development and analyzing its impact on manufacturers who place their products into the EU market. The more layers we pull back, the more concern we have. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: The new EU PLD fundamentally changes product liability law across the EU and exposes product manufacturers to a liability framework that is similar to – and in some ways goes beyond – the one in the United States. Nearly every aspect of the new EU PLD tilts heavily in favor of consumers and claimants, and against manufacturers, distributors, importers, and others in the supply chain. C-suites and in-house legal teams should begin preparing now. Lawyers at Reed Smith, based throughout the United States and Europe, have written several articles on the EU PLD. In each article, we highlighted how this new EU PLD materially changes legal procedures and substantive law across the EU. These concerns are well founded and warrant immediate attention. In this article, we focus on consumer Internet of Things (IoT) products and explain how the convergence of multiple regulatory frameworks creates a compliance environment that may cause IoT manufacturers significant unease about conducting business in the EU due to the compounding risks of fines and adverse verdicts. EU regulatory obstacles for manufacturers of consumer IoT products The consumer IoT market is massive and growing. Everyone is connected to something these days. Smartwatches, baby monitors, digital thermostats, security cameras and doorbells, fitness trackers, smart appliances, and so on. These products, while improving the lives of hundreds of millions of people, are subject to security breaches due to, among other